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Further Resources

Burlesque & Vaudeville

“About Vaudeville”: This article on PBS.com traces the history and impact of vaudeville.

“Ada Overton Walker”: A biography, from the Library of Congress, of Aida (born Ada) Overton Walker, the historical basis of Medda in Newsies.

“Burlesque Show”: Encyclopedia Britannica’s entry on burlesque.

Dialects

British Library Sound Archive: Contains audio clips and oral histories from eleven different archives. Scroll down to “View by” for access to hundreds of recordings sorted by county, date, or as clickable options on a sound map.

IDEA (International Dialects of English Archive): Created by a dialect coach in 1997, this website contains dozens of samples of dialects from all over the globe.

Disabilities

Beyond Affliction: “Civil War Veterans”: This section of the online companion to NPR’s 1998 four-hour documentary radio series Beyond Affliction examines disability among Civil War veterans.

“Civil War Pensions and Disability”: This article by Peter Blanck, published in 2001 in volume 62 of the Ohio State Law Journal, explores the social and political forces influencing disability civil rights following the Civil War and in modern times.

Everybody Belongs: Changing Negative Attitudes Toward Classmates with Disabilities: Arthur Shapiro’s book, published by Routledge in 2000, explains how familiar childhood characters like Captain Hook and Porky Pig shape attitudes toward disability. He offers practical guidance to schools that are wrestling with how to integrate children with disabilities.

Disability Language Style Guide: The National Center on Disability and Journalism’s style guide will lead you to the appropriate language to use when discussing disability with your cast.

The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public: Susan M. Schweik’s 2010 book, published by New York University Press, is an examination of the “ugly laws” of late-19th and early-20th century that criminalized disability in the U.S.

Industrial Revolution

“The Industrial Revolution in the United States”: A study guide provided by the Library of Congress as a primer on the Industrial Revolution.

“Industrial Revolution”: An article on History.com about the Industrial Revolution.

New York City

Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 and Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919: These books by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, published in 2000 and 2017 respectively by Oxford University Press, serve as a comprehensive history of New York City.

The Greatest Reform School in the World: A Guide to the Records of the New York House of Refuge: A 1989 publication from the New York State Archives and Records Administration providing a short history of the New York House of Refuge and a guide to its records.

How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York: Jacob Riis’s groundbreaking work of photojournalism, first published in book form in 1890, documents the squalid living conditions in the slums of New York City.

No. 9 Duane Street: An amateur historian’s compendium of information about the Newsboys’ Lodging House and other New York City lodging houses.

Newsies & Child Labor

Child Labor in America: This book, edited by Juliet H. Mofford and published by Discovery Enterprises in 1997, tells the story of child labor from the Industrial Revolution to the 1990s, including the newsies, using period photographs and text.

Children of the City: At Work & At Play: David Nasaw’s book, published by Oxford University Press in 1985, served as the initial inspiration for Newsies, the film. Nasaw recreates what it was like to be a child in an urban environment between 1900 and 1920, and offers the first comprehensive recounting of the 1899 newsies’ strike.

City Hall Park 1899: This website is a compilation of newspaper articles about the newsies’ strike from publications such as The New York Times, the New York Tribune, and The Sun.

“Extra! Extra! Read All About the Newsboys Strike of 1899”: A resource from the New York Public Library, offering some background on the strike of 1899 as well as links to news articles from the time and other helpful sources.

Kid Blink Beats the World: This illustrated biography by Don Brown, published in 2004 by Roaring Brook Press, tells Kid Blink’s story and chronicles his involvement in the strike.

Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor: Russel Freedman compiles photographs by Lewis Hine of working children and explains his significance in the fight against child labor in this 1994 young adult book published by Clarion Books.

Kids on Strike!: Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s book (written for young adults but useful for all), published Houghton Mifflin in 1999, chronicles a number of strikes led by children in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“Read All About It: The Story of the Newsies’ Two-Week Strike Against Publishers Pulitzer, Hearst”: An article in the New York Daily News by David Nasaw chronicling the 1899 newsies’ strike.

Newsies on Stage & Screen

“The Cult of Newsies”: Grady Smith’s 2012 Entertainment Weekly article traces the path of Newsies from screen to stage.

Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical: Filmed live onstage in 2017 at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, this live capture features performances by members of the original Broadway cast alongside the tour cast.

Newsies: Stories of the Unlikely Broadway Hit: Edited by Ken Cerniglia and published by Disney Editions in 2014, this book features more than one hundred first-person accounts of the creation and impact of Newsies – from historical research, film production, and stage development through the musical’s first anniversary on Broadway.

“Read All About It! Kids Vex Titans!”: A 2012 New York Times article by Dan Barry, written in anticipation of Newsies starting performances on Broadway, that discusses the historical basis of the musical.

Resistance Movements

“American Revolution History”: This History.com article provides a primer on the American Revolution.

“Civil Rights Movement”: This History.com article provides a primer on the Civil Rights Movement.

“The Fight for Women’s Suffrage”: This History.com article provides a primer on the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

Pulitzer, Hearst, & Journalism

The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst: A biography of William Randolph Hearst by David Nasaw, published in 2000 by Houghton Mifflin.

Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power: James Morris’s biography of Joseph Pulitzer, published by Harper Perennial in 2011.

Ten Days in a Mad-House: This book by Nellie Bly, originally published as a series of articles in the New York World in 1887 and later compiled into a book, is the culmination of her undercover assignment in which she investigated reports of brutality and neglect at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island.

“U.S. Diplomacy and Yellow Journalism, 1895-1898”: Published by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. State Department, this is a primer on yellow journalism and its place in the Spanish-American War.

Glossary of Terms

Direct Quotes

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